Expanding file-folder construction



April 4, 1967 J. w. HEYNEMANN 3,312,384

EXPANDING FILE-FOLDER CONSTRUCTION Filed July 13, 1965 INVENTOR JUL! US W HEYNEMANN ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,312,384 EXPANDING FILE-FOLDER CONSTRUCTION Julius W. Heynemann, 103 E. 86th St., New York, NY. 10028 Filed July 13, 1965, Ser. No. 471,641 2 Claims. (Cl. 229-54) The present invention relates to portfolios.

More particularly, the present invention relates to portfolios in the form of large heavy envelopes of the expansion type used for carrying about documents or other papers of various types, as well as drawings, photographs, etc.

As is well known, such portfolios are commonly provided with end gussets capable of collapsing and expanding so that the entire portfolio can on the one hand be quite flat when it is empty, while on the other hand, it is capable of expanding considerably so as to receive a relatively large volume of sheets of various types in its interior. These portfolios are conventionally filed away in conventional filing cabinets, and it is not uncommon to find several portfolios arranged in a row one next to the other, with many of the portfolios substantially full of sheet material of different types.

At the present time, considerable difficulty is encountered when it is desired to raise a portfolio of the above type out of a file drawer, particularly when the portfolio is fairly full so that it is in expanded condition and quite heavy. Grasping the portfolio by its flap, for example, is not advisable because of the danger of tearing the flap. The operator will normally attempt to engage the portfolio at the bottom thereof in order to raise the portfolio. While the safest course to follow is to engage the portfolio at the bottom thereof, it is often quite difficult to have access to the bottom of the portfolio when it is situated in a croweded file drawer, so that a great deal of inconvenience and, quite often, minor injuries to the hands of the operator are encountered in connection with the removal of portfolios from files.

It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to solve the above problem by providing portfolios which can very easily and conveniently be lifted out of a file drawer, without any difficulty encountered because of the fact that the portfolio is squeezed between neighboring portfolios or other filed articles.

In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide for a portfolio of the above type, an extremely simple and inexpensive structure which will operate very reliably to facilitate the raising of portfolios out of any location in which they are stored.

Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide a construction which easily adapts itself to existing portfolios, so that it is not necessary to change the manufacture of portfolios in order to accommodate the structure of the invention.

Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide a structure which will not weaken or tear the portfolio in any way so that a long useful life is assured for the portfolio, while at the same time the convenience of the handling thereof is greatly increased by the present invention.

Primarily, with the present invention, a lift-member is fastened to the end gussets of the portfolio and is accessible to the operator so that by engaging the lift-members, it becomes possible to raise the portfolio in a manner which is far easier than has theretofore been possible, particularly under conditions of the type referred to above.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of the application, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration of a portfolio according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional plan view, on an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 1, taken along line 22 of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevation, :also on an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 1, taken along line 3'3 of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevation of the structure of FIG. 2 as taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2 in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional elevation similar to FIG. 3 but showing a variation in the structure.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary elevation of an end gusset showing a further embodiment of a structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional elevation taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 6 in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 1, a portfolio It in the form of a well known expansion type of heavy envelope made of a flexible heavy paper or similar material, andthis portfolio 10 has a front wall 12, visible in FIG. 1, as well as a closure flap 14 capable of being releasably maintained in the closed position shown in FIG. 1, by the elongated flexible cord 16, which usually takes the form of a strip of fabric.

Portfolios of this type are commonly used for all sorts of legal documents, although they can contain any kind of sheet material such as drawings, photographs, and even books and the like. Because of the requirement of changing its interior volume considerably, depending upon how much is to be enclosed within the portfolio, the portfolio 10 is conventionally made with a pair of end gussets 18, one of which is visible in FIG. 1, which are suitably pleated so that the end gussets 18 are capable of expanding' and contracting. These end gussets are connected in a known way at their bottom ends to a similarly pleated bottom wall, part of which is visible in FIG. 2, so that in thisway the front wall is capable of moving toward and away from the rear wall of the portfolio 10 enabling the latter to accommodate itself to the different amounts of material which are to be placed within the portfolio. Thus, the gussets 18 each have a free top edge 20 and are each provided with a series of fold lines 22 extending perpendicularly to the top edge 20 and forming the pleats which render the gusset 18 expandable and contractible.

The portfolio If), as described thus far, is conventional.

. Such portfolios are, however, quite difficult to lift out of a confined location, such as a file drawer, particularly when these portfolios are fairly full and heavy, and it is with this latter problem that the present invention is concerned.

In order to solve this problem, a pair of lift-members 26 are respectively fastened to the end gussets 18 of the portfolio 10, and these lift-members 26 are accessible at the exterior of the portfolio so that they can be grasped by the operator who can then easily raise the portfolio.

In order to fasten the lift-members 26 to the end gussets 18, respectively, each end gusset 18 may be formed with a pair of cutouts or slits 24 which, in the example shown in FIGS. 1-4 are situated at approximately the same elevation beneath the top edge 20 adjacent the latter, and in this way a portion of the gusset which extends parallel to its top edge 20 is situated between the pair of cutouts 24. In the illustrated example these cutouts 24 are in the form of slits which extend parallel to the top edge 20.

The lift-member 26 is in the form of an elongated, end less, flexible substantially non-stretchable member. For example, any elongated tube of substantially non-stretchable plastic material, such as polyethylene, polystyrene, or the like, can be cut across at suitable intervals, in a manner similar to that used in the manufacture of elastic bands, so as to provide a plurality of endless plastic bands,

each of which will form a lift-member 26. Such endless bands will, of course, have closed loop ends 28 and 30, and it is these ends which are passed respectively through the cutouts 24. At the inner side of each gusset 18, the end 36 is passed through the loop 28, in the manner shown most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3, so that thereafter the end 30may be drawn over the top edge 20 at the exterior of the closure flap 14 of the portfolio It), and in this way the lift-member 26 is accessible at its end loop 36 which can very conveniently be grasped by the operator for the purpose of lifting the entire portfolio 10. Although this structure is shown in detail in FIGS. 2-4 for one end gusset 18, it is to be understood that the identical construction is situated at the other end gusset, and FIG. 1 shows a pair of the looped ends 30 of the lift-members 26 extending above the closure flap 14 so as to be accessible to the operator for lifting the portfolio It).

Normally, when the portfolio is situated in a suitable file drawer or the like, the lift-members 26 will hang in the manner shown in solid lines in FIG. 5, so that the operator can easily grasp the end loops 30 and raise them to the dot-dash line position indicated in FIG. 5, in preparation for raising the portfolio from its resting place.

As is shown in FIG. 5, instead of using elongated slits 24 to form the cutouts for fastening the lift-members to the end gussets, circular openings 32 may be provided, and such openings may be reinforced by metal grommets 34, in the manner indicated in FIG. 5. In this case, the lift-members 26 will, of course, extend through the metal grommets.

Also, it is not essential that the pair of cutouts used for fastening the lift-members to the gussets, be situated at the same elevation beneath the free top edge 20 of the gusset 18. Instead, an arrangement shown in FIGS. 6

'and 7 may be used, and in fact in many cases, this latter arrangement may be preferred, because it has considerable strength so that with relatively weak portfolios made of relatively thin sheet material, the construction of FIGS. 6 and 7 is preferred.

According to this embodiment, there is situated beneath the top edge 20 of the gusset 18, a pair of elongated slits 36 and 38, which extend parallel to each other as well as to the edge 20, and since these slits 36 and 38 are arranged horizontally, the define, between themselves, an elongated gusset portion 39 around which the lift-member 26 can be passed in the manner shown most clearly in FIG. 7. Thus, in this case, the end loop 28 of the lift-member will be passed through the lower slit-36 while the remainder of the lift-member will pass through the upper slit 38 and through the loop 28 in the manner shown in FIG. 7,

to leave the loop 36 accessible to the operator for lifting the portfolio. Of course, the embodiment of FIGS. 6 and 7 is used in the same Way as the other embodiments. Because the lift-member of FIGS. 6 and 7 grasps a horizontally extending portion 38 of the gusset, there is no tendency to tear the gusset so that it may be made of a relatively weak material. In all cases, the cutouts through which the lift-member passes are situated adjacent the free top edge of the gusset.

It is particularly to be noted that the flexible, substan tially non-stretchable lift-members simply hang down in the manner shown in FIG. 5, when they are not used, so that they do not in any way interfere with the use of the portfolio, and in and of themselves require practically no additional space.

Moreover, this construction of the invention is quite simple and is very easily adapted to existing portfolios as well as incorporated into newly manufactured portfolios.

I claim:

11. In a portfolio having a pair of gusseted ends terminating in a top edge, each gusseted end having a pair of spaced-apart openings spaced below said top edge, a liftmember passing through the openings of each said gusseted end for securing said lift-member to said gusseted end, and each said lift-member being in the form of an elongated, endless, flexible, substantially non-stretchable element, collapsed to define a bight at each end thereof, said element extending through said openings, one of the ends of said element extending through the bight of the other end thereof and then upwardly beyond said top edge of its respective gusseted end to form a free loop capable of being engaged for lifting the portfolio.

2. In a portfolio as recited in claim 1, said cutouts being in the form of elongated substantially parallel slits situated one above the other to define between themselves a section of the gusset which is connected with said liftmember for fastening the latter to said gusset.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 277,245 5/1883 Dunham 229-74 866,275 9/1907 Hartmann 229-63 1,734,642 11/1929 Olm 229-68 3,147,673 9/1964 Hilton 22954 FOREIGN PATENTS 197,725 5/1923 Great Britain.

0 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Examiner. 

1. IN A PORTFOLIO HAVING A PAIR OF GUSSTED ENDS TERMINATING IN A TOP EDGE, EACH GUSSETED END HAVING A PAIR OF SPACED-APART OPENINGS SPACED BELOW SAID TOP EDGE, A LIFTMEMBER PASSING THROUGH THE OPENINGS OF EACH SAID GUSSETED END FOR SECURING SAID LIFT-MEMBER TO SAID GUSSETED END, AND EACH SAID LIFT-MEMBER BEING IN THE FORM OF AN ELONGATED, ENDLESS, FLEXIBLE, SUBSTANTIALLY NON-STRETCHABLE ELEMENT, COLLAPSED TO DEFINE A BIGHT AT EACH END THEREOF, SAID ELEMENT EXTENDING THROUGH SAID OPENINGS, ONE OF THE ENDS OF SAID ELEMENT EXTENDING THROUGH THE BIGHT OF THE OTHER END THEREOF AND THEN UPWARDLY BEYOND SAID TOP EDGE OF ITS RESPECTIVE GUSSETED END TO FORM A FREE LOOP CAPABLE OF BEING ENGAGED FOR LIFTING THE PORTFOLIO. 